Paul Hagen: Is it easier to pitch in NL than AL?

DURING A RECENT Yankees telecast, the announcers talked about Roy Halladay. Specifically, how the Phillies righthander was off to a hot start. One joked that, pitching in the weaker National League, he might go undefeated. The other mentioned interleague play and guessed that, well, he might lose a couple games before the year is over.

LOL. But it does raise a point. How much of Halladay's 4-0, 0.82 start is just because he's a terrific pitcher on a roll? And how much is because he doesn't have the designated hitter to deal with anymore?

There's no definitive answer, of course, but here's one way to look at it. This is an arbitrary list of upper-echelon pitchers in the last decade or so who had a long period of sustained success in the American League before moving to the NL: CC Sabathia, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, Andy Pettitte, Randy Johnson, Cliff Lee, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Derek Lowe, David Wells, Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton.

Twelve of the 14 saw their earned run average for the following year, or the rest of the schedule if they were traded at midseason, drop an average of 1.04 runs per nine innings.

The exceptions are Zito, who until this year never came close to matching his success in Oakland after signing before the 2007 season with San Francisco for about a gazillion dollars, and Lee. Who probably deserves an asterisk.

The lefthander had a 3.14 ERA for the Indians in 22 starts before being traded to the Phillies, where it rose slightly to 3.39 in 12 starts. But . . . in his first five starts for the Phillies he was actually better than Halladay has been so far: 5-0, 0.68. And he had an 0.74 ERA in the first two rounds of the postseason against NL hitters compared to 2.81 in the World Series against the Yankees.

Now, there are a lot of other factors that have to be considered here, including the home ballpark the pitcher is working in, the comparative run support, possible injuries either before or after the switch and the fact that, for whatever reason, hitters seem to have more trouble adjusting to unfamiliar pitching than the other way around.

It also will be interesting to see what adjustments NL hitters make, especially those in the division, when they start seeing him for a second, third and fourth time this season.

Still, these numbers don't lie.

Besides, there doesn't seem to be a corresponding boost when starters go from the NL to the AL. Curt Schilling, Martinez, A.J. Burnett and Carl Pavano all had higher ERAs immediately after the change than before. An exception is Kevin Millwood (4.85 with the Phillies in 2004, 2.86 for Cleveland in 2005) but in the next 3 years he was much closer to the number in his final year in red pinstripes.

All this just seems to confirm what we already knew. American League lineups, with the DH and overt emphasis on offense, tend to be tougher. Well, duh. But it may be that no team has exploited this spread more than the Phillies.

They've made a significant starting pitching acquisition for each of the last five seasons: Moyer in 2006, Kyle Lohse in 2007, Blanton in 2008, Lee last year and Halladay this season. Four came from the American League. And that's probably more than a coincidence.

* Harmless and charmless: The Baltimore Orioles are 2-14, the worst record in baseball. They play their next 16 games against the Red Sox, Yankees and Twins. The front office is busy denying a report that franchise icon Cal Ripken Jr. was told to buzz off when he expressed an interest in working for the team. Naturally, there are rumors that manager Dave Trembley is on his way out. And Trembley admits that the brand of baseball his team has played to this point is "unacceptable." He added: "I'm tired of a lot of things, to be honest with you. Tired is rather mild. If that camera wasn't rolling, we could use some other adjectives, but I'm not allowed to do that. The FCC would come after me."

What a mess.

* What a mess (Part 2): If any team is more screwed up than the Orioles, it just might be the Texas Rangers. Owner Tom Hicks has a deal to sell the team to a group that includes club president Nolan Ryan. Except that the 40 investors Hicks owes money to are unhappy with the price he's getting and want him to reopen the bidding. Which caused Major League Baseball to issue a sharply worded warning against meddling in the process. Which makes the fact that the team is in last place, with manager Ron Washington - who admitted to testing positive for cocaine last year - on shaky ground, seem almost beside the point.

* Hoodiegate: First MLB banned the hoodie that Rays manager Joe Maddon likes to wear during chilly games. Then, 4 days later, the decision was "reinterpreted." Maddon couldn't resist taking a mild poke at the pooh-bahs who don't have anything more important to worry about. "I have no idea what the rationale is. It may have something to do with pace of the game," he deadpanned.

* No offense, sir: Royals Cy Young winner Zack Greinke is winless after four starts despite a 3.28 earned run average.

* Modern protest: Cubs fans who oppose the team's plan to construct a large Toyota advertising sign behind the leftfield bleachers at Wrigley Field are fighting back with a satirical video on YouTube that shows ad signs popping up all over the landmark ballpark.

* No mercy rule: The Brewers outscored the Pirates, 36-1, while sweeping the three-game series that ended yesterday at PNC Park.

* The quote: White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, on his team's slow start: "Long season, good team. Everybody relax."

DOUBLE DIMES:

It's still only April and a lot of things can happen between now and the end of the season. But Roy Halladay already has won 20 games in a season twice in his career and has pitched well enough so far to suggest he might be on his way to doing it again.

If he does, he'll become the first Phillies pitcher to reach the milestone since Steve Carlton in 1982. And the first Phillies righthander since Robin Roberts in 1955. Youngsters, that was a long time ago.

ADD HALLADAY:

He has pitched 33 of a possible 36 innings so far this year. And it would probably be more if he hadn't left an 11-1 win over the Nationals on Opening Day after seven innings just because the score was so lopsided.

TRIVIA TIME:

First baseman Ryan Howard made two nice defensive plays in the ninth inning Wednesday night to help preserve Halladay's shutout. Who is the only Phillies first baseman ever to win a Gold Glove?

MAGIC NUMBER:

The Phillies were 10-48 during the regular season when scoring three runs or less in 2009 and 83-21 when scoring four or more.

So it's interesting to note that they already have a pair of victories this year (against three losses) when scoring three or fewer. Both came in starts by Halladay, April 11 at Houston and Wednesday night against the Braves in Atlanta . Last year they didn't win their second game in that category until July 5, which left them 2-26 for the season.

DUFFER'S PUBLICITY:

The April issue of Golf Magazine lists the best major league linksters by position, with Shane Victorino getting the nod among centerfielders.

Victorino, who listed himself as a 12 handicap, said the best part of his game is "driving" and the worst is "every other aspect." His favorite course is Makena Beach & Golf Resort on his native Maui.

By the way, Mets rightfielder Jeff Francoeur said one of his two favorites is Merion in Ardmore (along with Muirfield in Scotland).

BOTTOM TO TOP:

It was a big deal when Victorino was moved to the top of the order, replacing the injured Jimmy Rollins, and had four hits, including a homer and a triple, scored three runs and drove in five as the Phillies exploded for 14 runs against the Nationals on April 14.

At that point, the Phillies were averaging eight runs per game. In the next six games, going into last night, Victorino was 4-for-26 (.154) with a .214 OBP. And the team went 2-4 while averaging 3.17 runs.

TRIVIA ANSWER:

Bill White in 1966.